Meet ParaNorman Screenwriter and Co-Director Chris Butler

The Cartoon Art Museum goes behind the scenes of ParaNorman with screenwriter and co-director Chris Butler on Wednesday, November 7, 2012 from 7:00-9:00pm in a special event presented by Focus Features. After amassing an impressive array of feature credits as storyboard artist, character designer, and sequence director over the past decade, Chris Butler marks his first feature as director and screenwriter with ParaNorman. Learn about the special challenges of creating a stop motion animation feature with a look at exclusive footage courtesy of LAIKA animation studio.

Tickets can be purchased at the museum on November 7, but they may also be pre-purchased through Guestlist Ticketing. Seating for this special event is limited, so advance reservations are recommended: <http://guestlistapp.com/events/132096> Tickets for this event are $7, and Cartoon Art Museum members will receive two-for-one admission.

About ParaNorman: When a small town comes under siege by zombies, who can it call? “Norman!”

From Focus Features and LAIKA, the companies behind the Academy Award-nominated animated feature Coraline, comes the comedy thriller ParaNorman. Following Coraline, ParaNorman is the second stop-motion animated feature to be made at LAIKA in 3D, unifying the two stunning art forms to tell an all-new frightfully funny, magically emotional, and hilariously spooky story.

ParaNorman is set in the town of Blithe Hollow, whose locals profit from mining the town's history as the site, 300 years ago, of a famous witch hunt. 11-year-old Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee of Let Me In and The Road) spends much of his days appreciating the finer points of scary movies and studying ghost lore. In fact, Norman is gifted with the ability to see and speak with the dead, such as his beloved grandmother (Elaine Stritch). Most days, he prefers their company to that of his flustered father (Jeff Garlin), spacey mother (Leslie Mann), and deeply superficial older sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick). At middle school, Norman dodges bullying Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), confides in the impressionable Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), and tries to tune out his blowhard teacher Mrs. Henscher (Alex Borstein).

Norman is unexpectedly contacted by his odd uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman), who floors him with the revelation that a centuries-old witch's curse is real and is about to come true, and that only Norman will be able to stop it from going into overdrive and harming the townspeople. Once a septet of zombies – led by The Judge (Bernard Hill) – suddenly rises from their graves, Norman finds himself caught in a wild race against time alongside Courtney, Alvin, Neil, and Neil's musclebound older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) as Sheriff Hooper (Tempestt Bledsoe) chases them all. Worse, the town is up in arms and taking up arms.

Norman bravely summons up all that makes a hero – courage and compassion – as he finds his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.